Dune Fence (Lesson 1)

Made with this course.

Project Description

What type of piece is this?
Drawing
Share a little about the materials, processes and techniques used to create this piece.
9 x 12 Canson sketch paper, Graphite pencils HB, 4B, 2B

What you will need

Graphite

Q&A with NancyLynn54

Patrick Connors asked:

Hello NancyLynn54, Welcome to Perspective in Landscape Drawing. Congratulations on your first posting of the lovely "Dune Fence." Thank you for including the reference image and responding to the questions about materials and inspiration. You rendered the dune fence and its cast shadow well. The depicted weathered wood is convincing and convey your experience of pleasure to the viewer. The space around the fence and into the distance is not as successful rendered, part in due to the focus concentrated on the fence. One problem in working from photographs is that the camera is unable to process space in the same manner and complexity as a human. So, for example, it "sees" the shadows of the fence as equal or near-equal in tone. Perspective tells us that to render space convincingly one thing the artist must adjust is the tone- increasingly lighter- as the shadows go away from the eye. The fence slats that are going into the distance should have a similar tone appreciation- they are too alike in value. In this vein, the wire that binds the slats together is too much the same. It should get less dark, as should its shadow, as it moves into the distance. No doubt you spent much of the time and energy on the fence and so did not have much left for the attendant landscape. That being said, it would have been of use to render the dunes tonally rather than linearly. In short, instead of lines you would place an appropriate tone. That lovely detail of the plant by the fence base in the foreground of the drawing sets a visual cue on which you did not capitalize. Each of your plants in the distance has the same line-weight as the one in the foreground and that compromises the space. Despite my criticism, all-in-all this is a good drawing. In the next drawing you will initially concentrate on the surrounding space and once that is established then on the elements within that space. For further information please see or review Lesson 3. Look forward to your next posting.

NancyLynn54 answered:

Thank you for the constructive criticism. It was very helpful! I am looking forward to applying your suggestions in my next drawing!!